By Angel Vaquero Saez
Meet Mate Derda: The Athletics Director at Munich International School Who is Taking Sports Education to the Next Level.
“When I first came in 2017, I worked as a football coach under the past athletics director,” Derda said. “In 2018, I took over the varsity football team and then was offered a position as a football coordinator responsible for all football teams.”
Initially, Derda did not plan to become an athletics director. Derda started as a football coach under the past athletics director, and then took over the varsity football team in 2018. In 2021, post the Covid-19 pandemic, he was offered the position of Assistant Athletic Director while teaching 1st grade.
As an athletics director, he is responsible for everything related to training, sports, and competitions. This includes booking buses, scheduling games, coordinating coaches, and organizing the times of different sports teams.
He said his focus is on offering the most competitive sports possible. He also added that based on statistics over the last 15 years, the most competitive sports are football, basketball, and volleyball. His future goal is to offer those three sports to everyone, all year long.
“Our future goal is to offer those three sports for everyone, all year long,” Derda said.
The Athletics Department is also hoping to offer new after-school activities, including new sports, Derda said. For example, this spring season they offered Taekwondo, and a new sport called paddle will be offered soon. They have contacted the paddle court in Sternberg to set it up, as they have three paddle courts.
”We have contacted the tennis court in Sternberg to set it up, as they have three paddle courts,” Derda said.
The biggest change that they plan to make is for the new school year-round, they have extended ISAT (International Schools Athletic Tournament) beyond sports to include speech and debate. This is a huge change, and they are looking forward to extending the seasons. He reasoned that they want to offer the most competitive aspect of sports and the opportunity to grow as a school.
“ This is a huge change, in my opinion, and I’m looking forward to extending the seasons,” Derda said.
Derda said his goal is to make the school as competitive as possible. He believes that students will learn from this, for example, the need to fight for their goals and dreams. This is the key to putting in hard work and commitment to have a successful life. In the future, he plans to be more competitive, but also offer sports to people who are not so skilled but want to become competitive in a sport they aren’t skilled in. He wants to offer the opportunity for everyone to participate in sports.